Man who leapt into Bronx tiger’s den was former Bond New York agent

Sep 24, 2012

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The Mahopac, N.Y. man who survived his Friday leap into the Bronx Zoo tiger’s den has been identified as David Villalobos, a former real estate agent with Bond New York.

Villalobos, 25, jumped from the monorail into the tiger exhibit, sustaining broken ribs, a broken right ankle, a collapsed lung, a broken pelvis and puncture wounds to his limbs and back after a 400-pound Siberian tiger named Bachuta “went tiger,” as Chris Rock would say. The former Bond real estate agent was charged Saturday with third-degree criminal trespass, a misdemeanor, and a lesser trespass charge, according to NBC News. Most of Villalobos’s injuries were a result of the 17-foot drop from the monorail into the den.

According to police spokesman Paul Browne, Villalobos was obsessed with tigers and told NYPD detectives that his jump was not a suicide attempt, but a desire to be “one with the tiger.”

Villalobos was at Bond for about seven months beginning last year, mostly in rentals, and had abruptly stopped showing up for work, The Real Deal reported. Bond founder Bruno Ricciotti released a statement wishing Villalobos “a speedy recovery. He and his family are in our thoughts and prayers.”